Courage of a Highlander

by Katy Baker

  Kara took a step back, heart suddenly thumping. Here was the woman who’d started all this, the one who’d set Kara on this course. “What are you doing here, Irene?”

  “I thought it about time we had a little chat.”

  “Now? Here? After all this time?”

  “What better place and time? This is where yer two worlds cross.”

  Kara schooled herself to calm. “What do you want?”

  “Only what I always want. To see ye on yer rightful path at last. Aiden has chosen his. Will ye choose yers?”

  “You’ve spoken to Aiden?”

  Irene shook her head. “Nay, lass. I didnae need to. He chose without my help. His path is to love ye and protect ye with his life, and in so doing, protect the very Highlands themselves. It was an easy choice for him.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Kara said. Like almost everything you say. “How does Aiden protecting me help the Highlands?”

  Irene’s eyes were like pools of ink as she regarded Kara. “Because it will allow ye to fulfil yer own destiny. The fact that ye are here suggests ye have figured it out already, even if ye havenae admitted it to yerself. Ye managed to use the arch by yerself to come here—without telling anyone ye were coming. What does that say do ye reckon?"

  Kara felt a twinge of guilt. Irene was right. She'd not told anyone, not even Aiden, that she was planning on returning to her time. Aiden would only have insisted on coming with her and this was something she'd needed to do alone. She needed closure, so she'd gone to the arch and passed through it to the railway bridge by Devereux’s warehouse. Using the arch had become instinctual to her, as easy as breathing. She was sure she could return to Dun Arnwick at the exact same time she'd left. Nobody would miss her.

  Kara squeezed her eyes shut and drew in a deep breath. “I’m like you, aren’t I?”

  Irene laid a hand on her arm. Her skin felt warm and as dry as paper. “Aye, lass. Ye are my granddaughter many generations removed and carry the same legacy in yer blood as I. We are of the Fae—at least partly—and we have a job to do.” Her grip on Kara’s arm tightened and her eyes became intense. “We are guardians of the Highlands. It is yer destiny, lass, and ye canna escape it any more than I could escape mine all those years ago. Do ye accept?”

  Deep down Kara had always known there was something different about her, but she’d never realized what that was until she’d been offered a bargain in a dark circle of stones high on a lonely hillside. Strangely, she didn’t feel frightened by Irene's words. She felt...content. Since she’d met Aiden it seemed like her life was realigning, finally falling into the pattern it was meant to. Now that pattern was almost complete.

  “What happens if I say yes?”

  Irene shrugged. “Ye will carry on with yer life. Ye and Aiden will live a long life together, ye’ll raise a family and do all the small things that make a life worth living. But ye will also have another role to fill. Ye will become a guardian of the Highlands and a keeper of the arches through time."

  Kara watched Irene. She said it so lightly, but the responsibility must be enormous. How had she carried it alone for so long? "So I'd be able to travel back here whenever I want?"

  Irene shook her head. "Nay, lass. Only when the need is great. Only when the currents of time have shifted out of their course and need correcting. There are rules we must obey."

  "Rules?"

  "Aye. Starting with choice. We canna influence anyone's free will. Aught that is given must be given freely. Nor can we interfere with the normal flow of fate. We canna save someone who must die, nor end a life if fate has decreed that they live. We are guardians, my dear. We keep the balance of life. That is all.” She smiled warmly. “I will guide ye and show ye all ye need to know. Do ye accept?”

  Kara placed her hand over Irene’s where it rested on her arm. “I accept.”

  A wide smile curled Irene’s mouth and just for a second Kara got a glimpse of the beautiful young woman Irene must once have been.

  “That makes me mighty glad, my dear. Have ye done here? Are ye ready to go home?”

  Kara huffed out a breath and looked around her little apartment. “One moment.” She crossed to the mantelpiece, carefully took down the clippings about her father, and put them in her pocket. “Oh and one other thing.” She hurried into the kitchen and collected a few things from the cupboard which she stuffed into a bag.

  Irene raised an eyebrow and Kara smiled sheepishly.

  “Coffee and chocolate. You can’t expect a girl to give those up, can you?”

  Irene barked a laugh, merriment dancing in her eyes. “I suppose I canna. And there has to be some benefit to being a guardian doesnae there?”

  Kara grinned. “Exactly. Right. I’m ready now.”

  Irene took her hand, tugged her to stand under the archway of the door, and spoke a few words. Kara’s apartment melted away, and she found herself standing in the library of Dun Arnwick, below the high window which formed a pointed archway above them. It was dark outside, the small hours of the night.

  She crossed to the desk on which sat the history of the Harris Clan she’d been writing. She ran a hand down the cover. It was finished. Tomorrow she’d present it to Andrew and Lucy, her gift to them.

  “A fine work, lass, although unfinished,” Irene said behind her.

  Kara glanced at the book and then back to Irene. “Unfinished?”

  Irene turned to the book and flipped through to the back page. “See? There’s naught in here about ye or Aiden or yer children. Yer story comes next and what a story it will be! Now, off with ye. Ye will have a busy day tomorrow. That’s when it all begins.”

  “What begins?”

  Irene rolled her eyes. “Why, the rest of yer life of course!”

  Kara nodded. She walked towards the door but paused on the threshold and looked back. “Thank you, Irene—”

  But the old woman was gone.

  Kara closed the door behind her and made her way down to the chamber she shared with her husband. She slipped into bed beside him, curling up against his warmth. He shifted, his arm coming around to hold her close against him. Peace flooded through her. Peace born of the knowledge she was where she was meant to be. She was safe and protected and loved. She knew this man would be by her side no matter what the years brought them, no matter the demands her Fae nature might put on them.

  She kissed his forehead. “Tomorrow, my love,” she whispered. “It all begins tomorrow.”

  THE END

  Thank you for reading Courage of a Highlander! If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review.

  Have you read the other Arch Through Time books yet? If not, you can check them all out here: Arch Through Time

  If you’d like to be notified of new releases, subscriber-only specials, and other booky news, why not sign up to my newsletter? All subscribers receive a copy of Guardian of a Highlander, which tells Irene’s story, as a welcome gift. Subscribe here.